Ever stricter legal regulations regarding the permissible harmful emissions of motor vehicles in which internal combustion engines are disposed make it necessary to keep the harmful emissions as low as possible during operation of the internal combustion engine. This can take place on the one hand by reducing the harmful emissions arising during the combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the respective cylinder of the internal combustion engine. On the other hand, exhaust aftertreatment systems that convert the harmful emissions produced during the combustion processes of the air/fuel mixture in the respective cylinders into harmless substances are used in internal combustion engines. For this purpose, exhaust gas catalyzers are used, which convert carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides into harmless substances. Both the targeted influences on the generation of the harmful emissions during the combustion and also the high efficiency conversion of the harmful components by the exhaust gas catalyzer assume a very precisely adjusted air/fuel ratio in the respective cylinder. Moreover, there are ever stricter regulations regarding the diagnosis of components relevant to harmful substances. This e.g. also applies in respect of the exhaust gas probe disposed upstream of or in the exhaust gas catalyzer. Faulty behavior can occur with this, e.g. caused by contamination or deposits on the probe. A fault in the exhaust gas probe can cause significantly slower response behavior or even a significantly changed dead time. Without further measures there is the possibility in such a case that more harmful emissions are output into the environment.